1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to display technology, and more particularly, to reflective polarizers and liquid crystal displays including the same.
2. Discussion
A liquid crystal display, which is one of the most common types of flat panel displays, typically includes two panels with field generating electrodes disposed thereon, such as a pixel electrode, a common electrode, and the like, and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween. The liquid crystal display is configured to apply an electric field in the liquid crystal layer by applying voltage to the field generating electrodes, and determine the direction of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer by the generated electric field, and control polarization of incident light to faciliate the display of images.
Conventional liquid crystal displays are typically classified into three categories, e.g., transmissive liquid crystal displays, reflective liquid crystal displays, and transflective liquid crystal displays. A transmissive liquid crystal display may be configured to display an image by using a backlight positioned at a rear side of a liquid crystal cell. A reflective liquid crystal display may be configured to display an image by using external natural light. A transflective liquid crystal display may be configured to operate in a transmissive mode to display an image by using an embedded light source of a display element while indoors or in a dark place where external light is limited and operate in a reflective mode to display an image by reflecting external light in an outdoor high-illumination environment. In this manner, a transflective liquid crystal display may combine structures of the above-noted transmissive liquid crystal display and the reflective liquid crystal display.
Among liquid crystal displays, the transmissive or transflective liquid crystal displays that are configured to display images by using a backlight are mainly used because their display luminance is relatively higher than traditionally reflective liquid crystal displays.
It is noted, however, that about 50% of light radiating from a backlight and made incident on a polarizer is absorbed by the polarizer, which is typically coupled to a lower portion of a corresponding liquid crystal display. As such, the remaining about 50% of light may be used for displaying an image. As a result, light efficiency and display luminance may be less than acceptable.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that provides efficient, cost effective techniques to provide liquid crystal display devices with improved light efficiency and display luminance.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.